The weather forecast this week continues the same, sunny days and chilly nights. We keep the cool east wind in the forecast through Wednesday and then it will ease a bit. I enjoy the sunny days but not so much the cold nights and that east wind can have a bite to it. Vancouver had a high temperature Monday of 56 degrees, which is 3 degrees above average, believe it or not.
I can explain. We have a cold air mass settled in the Columbia Basin which creates the east wind through the Gorge. Downslope winds off the Cascades and our local foothills warm and cause the thermometer to go up. The caveat is, of course, the wind chill. That 56 degrees felt like 44 degrees with winds gusting to 40 mph. The downslope increase in temperatures we call adiabatic warming. Today as the east winds continue all the way to the ocean beaches traveling downhill off the coastal mountains, more warming occurs with highs at 60 degrees or better.
The east wind lights up our local microclimates around Clark County. In wind-sheltered locations the daytime highs can be cooler but feel warmer. The nighttime lows are much colder but with calm winds feel warmer than the windy areas. Complex, huh? Maybe for some of you it all feels chilly and I’m with you on that one. Our average high today is 53 degrees and the low 40 degrees. Except for Monday and today with highs in the mid-50s helping to warm things up, the average mean temperature so far this month is quite cool at 44.3 degrees compared to an average of 48.2 degrees. Overnight lows Sunday were 29 degrees and Monday 28 degrees. Like I’ve been saying, more like December weather.
The highs will cool back to below normal Wednesday and beyond in the 40s while frosty mornings continue. In the rainfall department, we got off to a great start, but the moisture has long since evaporated. Our total so far remains at 3.08 inches in Vancouver. That is still over one-half inch above average, however, with no rain expected through Saturday, we will drop below normal again.
It does appear Thanksgiving week we return to wetter conditions; let’s hope so.
